February 8, 2002 marked the sixth birthday of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which forced open the local markets previously monopolized by the Regional Bell Operating Companies. The anniversary has sparked criticism from many in the local exchange arena who believe the RBOCs continue to monopolize their regions, violating federal law by deliberately putting up obstacles to competitors and offering inconsistent access to the network elements necessary for service provisioning.
"Clearly, the most unanticipated consequence of the 1996 Act is that the RBOCs have been able to flout the law so frequently," said John Windhausen Jr., president of the Association for Local Telecommunications Services. "If the federal government really wants to speed broadband deployment, its first task should be to enforce the 1996 Telecom Act and significantly increase the level of penalties for non-compliance."
Those non-compliance penalties have been assessed against the Bells by the FCC and various courts to the tune of $1.84 billion, according to a new database compiled by Voices for Choices. The group recently made public its new catalog of more than 130 fines, judgments and settlements levied against the four RBOCs (and their predecessors) for "poor service and anti-consumer practices" since the Act was passed.
Voice for Choices noted that during the six-year period in which the Bells were fined $1.84 billion, they reported more than $851 billion in revenue, meaning the fines represented about two-tenths of a percent of the Bells' total revenue.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0IGP/is_2_5/ai_84017813
